Laser scanning device and image forming apparatus including the same

ABSTRACT

A laser scanning device includes a light source, a deflection portion, an image forming lens, and a light source control portion. The light source emits a light beam. The deflection portion causes the light beam emitted from the light source to scan a scanned surface by deflecting the light beam at a predetermined deflection angle. The image forming lens condenses the deflected light beam on the scanned surface, and causes the light beam to be scanned on the scanned surface in a scanning direction at an equal speed. The light source control portion controls the light source to irradiate the light beam to at least one section area among a plurality of section areas sectioned from each other in the scanning direction on the scanned surface, at a plurality of irradiation timings determined based on a position of the at least one section area in the scanning direction.

INCORPORATION BY REFERENCE

This application is based upon and claims the benefit of priority fromthe corresponding Japanese Patent Application No. 2015-208706 filed onOct. 23, 2015, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein byreference.

BACKGROUND

The present disclosure relates to a laser scanning device for scanning ascanned surface with a light beam emitted from a light source, and to animage forming apparatus including a laser scanning device.

Electrophotographic image forming apparatuses include a laser scanningdevice configured to emit a light beam for scanning a photoconductor.The laser scanning device includes a deflector that deflects the lightbeam so that the deflected light beam scans a scanned surface of thephotoconductor. As the deflector, there is known one using a polygonmirror having a plurality of reflection surfaces, or one using anoscillation mirror (also called a resonance mirror) such as a MEMSmirror in which a reflection surface makes a sinusoidal oscillation in areciprocating manner to deflect the light beam. In recent years, anoscillation mirror having a small error and a small driving load hasbeen used to realize a high-speed scanning.

In the oscillation mirror, since the reciprocating operation of thereflection surface is sinusoidally driven, the operation speed changesin synchronization with the sinusoidal waves in the oscillation range.As a result, laser scanning devices using the oscillation mirror includea curved lens having an arc sine property (hereinafter, such a curvedlens is referred to as an “arc sine lens”) so that the light beam moveson the scanned surface at a constant speed in the scanning direction.

The arc sine lens enables a light beam to scan the scanned surface at anequal speed, but the spot diameter (also referred to as a beam diameter)of the light beam increases as it moves away from an optical axis of thelens. In other words, as the field angle of the oscillation mirror withrespect to the optical axis increases, the spot diameter of the lightbeam on the scanned surface increases. As a conventional techniquecoping with the problem, there is known a correction technique foraligning the size of the spot diameters by adjusting the amount of lightat each scanning position on the scanned surface. In addition, asanother conventional tecnique, there is known a correction technique foraligning the size of the spot diameters by decreasing the exposure timeperiod and increasing the light intensity as the field angle of theoscillation mirror increases. It is noted that in the presentspecification, the spot diameter refers to a diameter of a light flux ata point where the light intensity is 1/e² (=13.5%) of the peak value ofthe light intensity of the light beam irradiated on the scanned surface.

SUMMARY

A laser scanning device according to an aspect of the present disclosureincludes a light source, a deflection portion, an image forming lens,and a light source control portion. The light source is configured toemit a light beam. The deflection portion is configured to cause thelight beam emitted from the light source to scan a scanned surface bydeflecting the light beam at a predetermined deflection angle. The imageforming lens is configured to condense the light beam deflected by thedeflection portion on the scanned surface, and cause the light beam tobe scanned on the scanned surface in a scanning direction at an equalspeed. The light source control portion is configured to control thelight source to irradiate, at a plurality of irradiation timings, thelight beam to at least one section area among a plurality of sectionareas on the scanned surface, the plurality of section areas beingsectioned from each other in the scanning direction, the plurality ofirradiation timings being determined based on a position of the at leastone section area in the scanning direction.

An image forming apparatus according to another aspect of the presentdisclosure includes the laser scanning device and an image formingportion. The image forming portion is configured to form, on atransferred sheet, an image based on an electrostatic latent image on ascanned surface scanned by the laser scanning device.

This Summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in asimplified form that are further described below in the DetailedDescription with reference where appropriate to the accompanyingdrawings. This Summary is not intended to identify key features oressential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended tobe used to limit the scope of the claimed subject matter. Furthermore,the claimed subject matter is not limited to implementations that solveany or all disadvantages noted in any part of this disclosure.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of an image formingapparatus according to a first embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a configuration of a laser scanning deviceaccording to the first embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a system configuration of the imageforming apparatus.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing an example procedure of a drive controlprocess of a light source executed by a control portion of the imageforming apparatus.

FIG. 5A and FIG. 5B are diagrams for explaining an example 1 of a firstembodiment of the present disclosure. FIG. 5A shows light quantitydistributions of stationary beams according to the example 1; and FIG.5B shows control pulses used in a lighting control.

FIG. 6A to FIG. 6C are diagrams for explaining the example 1 of thefirst embodiment of the present disclosure, and show light quantitydistributions of dynamic beams according to the example 1.

FIG. 7A and FIG. 7B are diagrams for explaining an example 2 of thefirst embodiment of the present disclosure; FIG. 7A shows light quantitydistributions of stationary beams according to the example 2; and FIG.7B shows control pulses used in a lighting control.

FIG. 8A and FIG. 8B are diagrams for explaining an example 3 of thefirst embodiment of the present disclosure. FIG. 8A shows light quantitydistributions of stationary beams according to the example 3; and FIG.8B shows control pulses used in a lighting control.

FIG. 9A and FIG. 9B are diagrams for explaining an example 4 of thefirst embodiment of the present disclosure. FIG. 9A shows light quantitydistributions of stationary beams according to the example 4; and FIG.9B shows control pulses used in a lighting control.

FIG. 10A to FIG. 10D are diagrams for explaining an example 5 of thefirst embodiment of the present disclosure. FIG. 10A shows controlpulses used in a lighting control applied to the example 5; and FIG. 10Bto FIG. 10D show light quantity distributions of dynamic beams accordingto the example 5.

FIG. 11A to FIG. 11D are diagrams for explaining an example 6 of thefirst embodiment of the present disclosure. FIG. 11A shows controlpulses used in a lighting control applied to the example 6; and FIG. 11Bto FIG. 11D show light quantity distributions of dynamic beams accordingto the example 6.

FIG. 12A is a diagram for explaining an example 7 of the firstembodiment of the present disclosure, and is a diagram showing controlpulses used in a lighting control applied to the example 7; and FIG. 12Bis a diagram for explaining an example 8 of the first embodiment of thepresent disclosure, and is a diagram showing control pulses used in alighting control applied to the example 8.

FIG. 13A and FIG. 13B are diagrams for explaining an example of a secondembodiment of the present disclosure and show control pulses used in alighting control applied to the second embodiment.

FIG. 14A shows an example of synthetic pulses generated by synthesizingoverlapping control pulses among the control pulses shown in FIG. 13B;and FIG. 14B is a diagram showing another example of synthetic pulses.

FIG. 15A and FIG. 15B are diagrams for explaining another example of thesecond embodiment of the present disclosure and show control pulses usedin a lighting control applied to the second embodiment.

FIG. 16A and FIG. 16B show an example of synthetic pulses generated bysynthesizing control pulses that are in proximity to each other amongthe control pulses shown in FIG. 15B.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[First Embodiment]

The following describes a first embodiment of the present disclusurewith reference to the attached drawings. It should be noted that thefollowing embodiment is an example of a specific embodiment of thepresent disclosure and should not limit the technical scope of thepresent disclosure.

As shown in FIG. 1, an image forming apparatus 10 includes image formingunits 1-4 (an example of the image forming portion), an intermediatetransfer belt 5, two laser scanning devices 6, a secondary transferroller 7, a fixing device 8, a sheet discharge tray 9, toner containers11-14, a sheet feed cassette 21, and a conveyance path 22. The imageforming apparatus 10 is a printer that forms a color or monochrome imageon a sheet (an example of the transferred sheet) such as a print sheetsupplied from the sheet feed cassette 21 along the conveyance path 22,and discharges the sheet onto the sheet discharge tray 9. It is notedthat in the following description, a left-right direction D1, an up-downdirection D2, and a front-rear direction D3 defined in the drawings maybe used.

In the present embodiment, the image forming apparatus 10 includes thetwo laser scanning devices 6 in correspondence with the image formingunits 1-4. It is noted that as another embodiment, four laser scanningdevices may be provided individually respectively in correspondence withthe four image forming units 1-4, or one laser scanning device may beprovided in correspondence with the four image forming units 1-4. Inaddition, not limited to a printer, a facsimile, a copier, or amultifunction peripheral including a laser scanning device is an exampleof the image forming apparatus of the present disclosure.

The image forming units 1-4 form an image on a sheet based onelectrostatic latent images formed on scanned surfaces (surfaces ofphotoconductor drums 31 described below) scanned by the laser scanningdevices 6. The image forming units 1-4 are arranged in alignment alongthe intermediate transfer belt 5, and form a so-called tandem imageforming portion. The image forming units 1-4 form toner imagescorresponding to Y (yellow), C (cyan), M (magenta), and K (black). Theimage forming units 1-4 form images by the electrophotography, and eachinclude a photoconductor drum 31, a charging portion 32, a developingportion 33, and a primary transfer roller 34.

In each of the image forming units 1-4, after the photoconductor drums31 are charged by the charging portions 32, electrostatic latent imagescorresponding to image data are formed on the photoconductor drums 31 bylight beams such as laser beams emitted from the laser scanning devices6. Thereafter, the electrostatic latent images formed on thephotoconductor drums 31 are developed by the developing devices 33 bydeveloper such as toner. The toner images formed on the photoconductordrums 31 are transferred to the intermediate transfer belt 5 by theprimary transfer rollers 34 in sequence. This allows a color ormonochrome image to be formed on the intermediate transfer belt 5.Subsequently, the toner image on the intermediate transfer belt 5 istransferred to the sheet by the secondary transfer roller 7, fused andfixed to the sheet by the fixing device 8. After the fixing is performedby the fixing device 8, the sheet is discharged onto the sheet dischargetray 9.

Next, the laser scanning devices 6 are explained with reference to FIG.1 and FIG. 2. It is noted that FIG. 2 shows the laser scanning devices 6with a simplified configuration for the sake of easy understanding.

The laser scanning devices 6 emit light beams toward the photoconductordrums 31 and scan the surfaces of the photoconductor drums 31 with thelight beams. This allows electrostatic latent images corresponding tothe image data to be formed on the surfaces of the photoconductor drums31. As shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, the laser scanning devices 6 includelight sources 61 (see FIG. 2), collimator lenses 62, cylindrical lenses63, MEMS (Micro Electro Mechanical Systems) mirrors 64 (an example ofthe deflection portion), scanning lenses 66 and 67 (an example of theimage forming lens), reflection mirrors 68, light detecting portions 69,and cases 60 as housings for storing these portions.

In the laser scanning devices 6, with respect to one MEMS mirror 64, twosets of light source 61, collimator lens 62, cylindrical lens 63,scanning lens 66, scanning lens 67, reflection mirror 68, and lightdetecting portion 69 are provided. It is noted that in FIG. 2, only oneof the two sets is shown, the other omitted.

Each of the light sources 61 is configured to emit a light beam such asa laser beam, and includes a semiconductor laser element and a LDdriving circuit 61A that drives the semiconductor laser element (seeFIG. 3). Specifically, the light source 61 is a monolithic multi-laserdiode in which a plurality of light-emitting points are formed on a samesubstrate. The light-emitting points are arranged along a predetermineddirection. In the present embodiment, the light source 61 is describedas, as one example, a monolithic multi-laser diode in which twolight-emitting points are arranged. Of course, the light source 61 isnot limited to a multi type, but may be a single type in which a lightbeam is emitted from one light-emitting point.

A control portion 80 described below inputs a drive pulse signal intothe LD driving circuit 61A so as to cause the light source 61 to emitlight, the drive pulse signal being composed of a plurality of drivepulses. Upon receiving the drive pulse signal, the LD driving circuit61A causes the light source 61 to emit a light beam that has a lightintensity (light energy) corresponding to the received drive pulsesignal. The drive pulse signal includes the drive pulses that specify alight intensity, an irradiation timing (exposure timing), and anexposure time period (lightning time period) defined for each pixel ofone line of image data. The drive pulses are made respectively incorrespondence with pixel areas (an example of the section areas) on thesurface of the photoconductor drum 31, the pixel areas respectivelycorresponding to the pixels. In other words, the drive pulses define thelight intensity, the irradiation timing, the exposure time period andthe like for each pixel area. The LD driving circuit 61A causes thelight source 61 to emit a light beam having a property corresponding tothe drive pulses included in the drive pulse signal. The control portion80, upon obtaining the gradation value (density information) of eachpixel from pixel data constituting the image data input to the imageforming apparatus 10, generates the drive pulse signal composed of drivepulses each having a width or an amplitude corresponding to thegradation value, and outputs the generated drive pulse signal to the LDdriving circuit 61A. It is noted that the drive pulse signal to beoutput from the control portion 80 is corrected by the control portion80 as described below, and the drive pulse signal after correction isoutput to the LD driving circuit 61A.

The light source 61 emits two light beams respectively from twolight-emitting points. The two light beams emitted from the light source61 are converted to parallel light beams by the collimator lens 62 andthen enter the cylindrical lens 63 as a light flux L1 composed of thetwo light beams. The light flux L1 passes through the cylindrical lens63, and enters the MEMS mirror 64. It is noted that the light flux L1composed of the light beams emitted from the light source 61 isdeflected by the MEMS mirror 64 at a predetermined angle so as to bescanned in a scanning direction (main scanning direction) and enters thescanning lens 66 located on the downstream side in the travellingdirection of the light flux L1.

The MEMS mirror 64 is configured to cause the light flux L1 that wasemitted from the light source 61 and passed through the cylindrical lens63, to scan the surface (scanned surface) of the photoconductor drum 31by deflecting the light flux L1 at a predetermined deflection angle.Hereinafter, the scanning direction of the light flux L1 scanned by theMEMS mirror 64 is referred to as a main scanning direction D31 (see FIG.2), and a direction perpendicular to the main scanning direction D31 onthe surface of the photoconductor drum 31 is referred to as a subscanning direction. The MEMS mirror 64 is a so-called oscillation mirrorthat oscillates sinusoidally at the predetermined deflection angle andreflects the light flux L1 toward the surface of the photoconductor drum31. The MEMS mirror 64 has an oscillating shaft (not shown) that isparallel to the sub scanning direction. The MEMS mirror 64 oscillatesaround the oscillating shaft and reciprocates within a range of apredetermined deflection angle so as to deflect and scan the light fluxL1 incident from the cylindrical lens 63. The light reflected by theMEMS mirror 64 travels to the scanning lens 66 as a light flux L2.

The MEMS mirror 64 is configured to be oscillationally driven by thesinusoidal oscillation, and includes a MEMS substrate 64A and areflection mirror 64B. The MEMS substrate 64A is a device in whichmechanical elements such as an actuator and an electromagnetic coil, andelectronic devices such as an electronic circuit are integrallyintegrated on a semiconductor substrate. For example, when a sinusoidalvoltage of a predetermined frequency is applied to the electromagneticcoil, the electromagnetic coil is operated by the sinusoidal voltage,and thereby the reflection mirror 64B oscillates around the oscillatingshaft within a range of the predetermined deflection angle. It is notedthat although the MEMS mirror 64 is adopted in the present embodiment,the MEMS mirror 64 may be replaced with another oscillation mirror suchas a galvano mirror as far as it is a deflector that is oscillationallydriven by the sinusoidal oscillation.

The scanning lenses 66 and 67 condenses the light flux L2 that has beenreflected and scanned in the main scanning direction D31 by the MEMSmirror 64, on the scanned surface, namely the surface of thephotoconductor drum 31. That is, the scanning lenses 66 and 67 form animage of the light flux L2 that is scanned by the MEMS mirror 64 in themain scanning direction D31, on the surface of the photoconductor drum31. In addition, the scanning lenses 66 and 67 cause the light flux L2to be scanned on the surface of the photoconductor drum 31 in the mainscanning direction D31 at an equal speed, and are, specifically, arcsine lenses having an arc sine property.

Each of the reflection mirrors 68 is a reflection member that iselongated in the main scanning direction D31 in which the light flux L2is scanned by the MEMS mirror 64. The reflection mirrors 68, insequence, reflect the light flux L2 that has passed through the scanninglenses 66 and 67, and guide the light flux L2 to the surface of thephotoconductor drum 31.

The light detecting portions 69 are provided in the cases 60. The lightdetecting portions 69 are provided respectively in correspondence withthe image forming units 1-4, and are disposed at predetermined positionson the scanning path of the light flux L2 scanned in the main scanningdirection D31 by the MEMS mirror 64. In the present embodiment, thelight detecting portions 69 are disposed outside the range of thescanning lenses 66 and 67. Each of the light detecting portions 69detects an incidence of the light flux L2. The light detecting portion69 includes a photo IC and a substrate on which the photo IC isimplemented, the photo IC being, for example, a transistor. Upondetecting the light flux L2, the light detecting portion 69 outputs abeam detect signal (also called a BD signal or a main scanning syncsignal) to the control portion 80 described below, the beam detectsignal being used to take timing of the scanning start for each line. Inthe image forming apparatus 10, the control portion 80 controls anemission start timing of a light beam corresponding to each line ofimage data, namely a writing timing of each line of image data, based onthe detection timing of the light flux L2 by the light detecting portion69. It is noted that the light detecting portion 69 may be disposed onboth sides of the deflection angle of the MEMS mirror 64. In addition,in the image forming apparatus 10, the light detecting portion 69 may beprovided in one of the image forming units 1-4. Furthermore, in theimage forming apparatus 10, one light detecting portion 69 may beprovided in correspondence with the image forming units 1 and 2, and onelight detecting portion 69 may be provided in correspondence with theimage forming units 3 and 4.

Meanwhile, it is known that when arc sine lenses are used as thescanning lenses 66 and 67 to make constant the scanning speed of thelight flux L2 on the surface (scanned surface) of the photoconductordrum 31, the spot diameter of the light beam increases as it moves awayfrom an optical axis P of the lens. In other words, as the field angleof the MEMS mirror 64 with respect to the optical axis P increases, thespot diameter of the light beam on the surface of the photoconductordrum 31 increases. In this case, for example, when light beams of thesame light energy are respectively emitted toward the center and twoends of the photoconductor drum 31 in the longitudinal directionthereof, the spot diameters at the respective irradiation positions aredifferent. Thus the electrostatic latent image on the surface of thephotoconductor drum 31 has different potentials at the respectiveirradiation positions. This causes a problem that even if the sameimages are formed on a sheet by the image forming apparatus 10 at thecenter and two ends in the width direction thereof, the images may bedifferent from each other in density, or may have a density unevenness.

It is noted that as a conventional technique, there is known acorrection technique for aligning the size of the spot diameters byadjusting the amount of light at each scanning position on the scannedsurface. In addition, as another conventional tecnique, there is known acorrection technique for aligning the size of the spot diameters bydecreasing the exposure time period and increasing the light intensityas the field angle of the MEMS mirror 64 increases. However, accordingto the former conventional technique, an image density unevenness occursin the main scanning direction since the irradiated light beams havedifferent light energies at the respective scanning positions on thescanned surface. On the other hand, according to the latter conventionaltechnique, it is possible to approximate the light quantitydistributions (beam profiles) of the light beams at the respectivescanning positions in the scanning direction, and make approximatelyequal the light energies at the respective scanning positions. However,according to the latter conventional technique, the light beam isirradiated by one lighting onto a predetermined irradiation area on thescanned surface. As a result, as a difference from a correction-targetspot diameter increases, the adjustment widths of the exposure timeperiod (lighting time period) and the light intensity with respect to adifference in field angle (or a difference in distance from the opticalaxis) increase. Since it is impossible to correct the spot diameter byexceeding a limit of the exposure time period or the light intensity,the latter conventional technique may not be able to sufficientlycorrect the spot diameter when the difference between spot diameters islarge. In recent years, image forming apparatuses that can form imageson sheets of relatively large sizes (for example, A3 size) are much indemand. In such image forming apparatuses, when the correction range ofthe spot diameter is large, an image density unevenness formed at endportions in the width direction of the sheet may not be eliminated.

In the image forming apparatus 10 of the present embodiment, asdescribed below, the control portion 80 irradiates light beams on aplurality of irradiation areas in the pixel area on the surface of thephotoconductor drum 31 corresponding to one pixel, at a plurality ofirradiation timings. With this configuration, it is possible to makeapproximately equal the light quantity distributions in the pixel areaslocated on the surface of the photoconductor drum 31 in the mainscanning direction D31, and make approximately align the size of thespot diameters of the light fluxes in the pixel areas. In particular, inthe present embodiment, with the configuration where the light beamsemitted at a plurality of irradiation timings are irradiated on aplurality of irradiation areas in the pixel areas sectioned from eachother in correspondence with the pixels, it is possible to increase, inthe pixel areas, the correction range of the spot diameter of the lightflux which includes a plurality of light beams.

Specifically, as shown in FIG. 3, the image forming apparatus 10includes the control portion 80 which is configured to control the imageformation operation in the image forming apparatus 10. It is noted thatthe control portion 80 may be a main control portion configured tocomprehensively control the whole image forming apparatus 10, or may beprovided independent of the main control portion. The control portion 80is connected to the LD driving circuit 61A, the MEMS mirror 64, thelight detecting portion 69, and the like. The LD driving circuit 61A isa driver circuit for performing a lighting control (exposure control) ofthe light source 61, and controls the exposure (lighting and extinction)of the light source 61 in response to the drive pulse signal from thecontrol portion 80. In addition, the LD driving circuit 61A modifies, ormore specifically varies the intensity or the wavelength of the lightbeam emitted from the light source 61 in response to the drive pulsesignal.

The control portion 80 includes a CPU, a ROM, and a RAM. In addition,the control portion 80 includes a light source control portion 81 and astorage portion 82. Specifically, the control portion 80 functions asthe light source control portion 81 when it causes the CPU to execute aprocess in accordance with a control program stored in the ROM or thelike. In addition, the storage portion 82 is a storage medium such as aflash memory. It is noted that the light source control portion 81 maybe composed of an integrated circuit.

The light source control portion 81 controls the light source 61 toirradiate, at a plurality of irradiation timings, a light beam topredetermined irradiation positions in at least one pixel area among aplurality of pixel areas on the surface of the photoconductor drum 31,the plurality of pixel areas being sectioned from each other in the mainscanning direction D31 in correspondence with a plurality of pixels. Theplurality of irradiation timings are determined based on the position ofthe at least one pixel area in the main scanning direction D31. Thelight source control portion 81 may control the light source 61 toirradiate, at the plurality of irradiation timings, a light beam to thepredetermined irradiation positions in all of the plurality of pixelareas. The plurality of irradiation timings are calculated in advancebased on a simulation or measured data, and stored in the storageportion 82. Alternatively, each time a line is scanned, a reference spotdiameter of each pixel area may be read from beam data that is describedbelow, and the plurality of irradiation timings may be calculated basedon the reference spot diameter. It is noted that the reference spotdiameter is described below.

It is noted here that each pixel area corresponds to each pixel which isthe smallest unit of an image formed on a sheet by the image formingunits 1-4. For example, when the image has a resolution of 600 dpi, thewidth of a pixel is approximately 42.3 μm. A pixel area corresponding tothis pixel is represented as a pixel area R10 in an example 1 describedbelow, the pixel area R10 being shown in FIG. 5A and FIG. 5B. The pixelareas in this case are areas on the surface of the photoconductor drum31 that are sectioned from each other at intervals of 42.3 μm in themain scanning direction D31. The pixel areas are an example of thesection areas of the present disclosure. However, the section areas arenot limited to the areas that respectively correspond to the pixels. Forexample, each section area may correspond to two or three pixels, or maybe one of a plurality of small areas that are formed by furthersectioning an area corresponding to a pixel.

In the present embodiment, the plurality of irradiation timings aredetermined such that the light quantity distributions of light fluxes inthe pixel areas on the surface of the photoconductor drum 31 areapproximately equal over the whole region in the main scanning directionD31. When the light quantity distributions are equal, the spot diametersof the light fluxes each composed of one or more light beams irradiatedto the pixel areas are approximately equal over the whole region in themain scanning direction D31. In other words, the plurality ofirradiation positions to which the light beams are irradiated at theplurality of irradiation timings are determined such that the spotdiameters of the light fluxes of a plurality of light beams irradiatedto the pixel areas are approximately equal over the whole region in themain scanning direction D31. In the example 1 described below, controlpulses A11 to A13 are determined such that the spot diameters of thelight fluxes in the pixel areas R10 (see FIG. 5A to 5C) have anapproximately equal size (=90.0 μm) over the whole region in the mainscanning direction D31, wherein the control pulses A11 to A13respectively correspond to three irradiation positions (irradiationareas) that are located at equal intervals in the main scanningdirection D31 in each pixel area R10. The control pulses A11 to A13 arecontrol signals for driving the light source 61. The light sourcecontrol portion 81 controls the lighting of the light source 61 byoutputting the control pulses A11 to A13 to the LD driving circuit 61A,wherein the control pulses A11 to A13 respectively correspond to theplurality of irradiation timings. The width of each of the controlpulses A11 to A13 is determined such that the light beam is irradiatedfor a predetermined exposure time period. In addition, the irradiationtimings of the control pulses A11 to A13 are determined such that thelight beam is irradiated to the three irradiation positions in the pixelarea R10 at a predetermined interval.

The light source control portion 81 drivingly controls the light source61 such that a light beam is irradiated to a plurality of irradiationpositions (irradiation areas) located in the pixel area, at a pluralityof irradiation timings. In the present embodiment, the light sourcecontrol portion 81 drivingly controls the light source 61 such that alight beam of an exposure time period (lighting time period) and a lightintensity that correspond to the position of the pixel area in the mainscanning direction D31, is irradiated to the irradiation positions atthe irradiation timings. Specifically, as described above, drive pulsesignals are generated, wherein each drive pulse signal includes a drivepulse whose width corresponds to the gradation value (densityinformation) of each pixel included in each piece of pixel data thatconstitutes the image data,. Thereafter, the generated drive pulsesignals are corrected to include drive pulses (control pulses) thatrepresent the irradiation timings corresponding to the plurality ofirradiation positions, the exposure time period, and the lightintensity. The light source control portion 81 outputs the correcteddrive pulse signals to the LD driving circuit 61A, and the LD drivingcircuit 61A causes the light source 61 to emit light beams in accordancewith the drive pulse signals. In the example 1 described below, withrespect to all of the control pulses A11 to A13, the irradiation timingsare determined such that light beams of the same light intensity (5.25mW) are emitted from the light source 61. In addition, with respect toall of the control pulses A11 to A13, the irradiation timings aredetermined such that light beams of the same light intensity (5.25 mW)are emitted from the light source 61. In addition, with respect to thecontrol pulse A12 located at the center of the pixel area R10, the widththereof is determined so as to have an exposure time period twice thatof the other control pulses A13 and A14 located on both sides of thecontrol pulse A12. The light source 61 is drivingly controlled by drivepulse signals including the control pulses that have been determined inthis way.

The storage portion 82 stores beam data for each of a plurality of pixelareas sectioned from each other in the main scanning direction D31, eachpiece of the beam data corresponding to the position of each pixel areain the main scanning direction D31. The beam data includes a spotdiameter (hereinafter referred to as a “reference spot diameter”) thatappears in a pixel area when a reference light beam having apredetermined light energy is irradiated to the pixel area for apredetermined time period. The reference spot diameter is a spotdiameter of the reference light beam that appears by only oneirradiation of the reference light beam to the pixel area. Specifically,the reference light beam is a so-called stationary beam that is emitted,but is not scanned. In addition, the reference spot diameter is a spotdiameter of the reference light beam that appears when the referencelight beam is irradiated individually to the plurality of pixel areas.The reference spot diameters can be obtained in advance from asimulation or measured data. Such beam data is obtained in advance andstored in the storage portion 82. As a result, the light source controlportion 81 can recognize, from the beam data, the variation of thereference spot diameters in the pixel areas. For example, the referencelight beam of a predetermined light intensity is irradiated to each ofthe pixel areas for a predetermined time period, and then the lightquantity distributions of the reference light beam (the light quantitydistributions in the pixel areas) and the spot diameters are measured,and the measured values are stored in the storage portion 82 incorrespondence with the pixel areas. The beam data may include, inaddition to values of the light quantity distribution and the referencespot diameter, the property of the light beam emitted from the lightsource 61. Specifically, the property of the light beam may be: the sizeof the main lobe included in the light beam; presence/absence of a sidelobe; the light energy of the main lobe; and/or the light energy of thewhole light beam. In the present embodiment, the control portion 80determines the irradiation timings of the plurality of drive pulsescorresponding to the pixel areas, based on the positions of the pixelareas in the main scanning direction D31, and the reference spotdiameters included in the beam data.

In the present embodiment, the light source control portion 81 adjuststhe intervals between the plurality of irradiation timings of the lightbeam with respect to the pixel areas so that there exists a negativecorrelation between the intervals and the sizes of the reference spotdiameters. In an example 4 described below, the smaller the spotdiameter of the stationary beam is, the larger the interval betweencontrol pulses corresponding to the outer irradiation positions in themain scanning direction D31 is; and the larger the spot diameter of thestationary beam is, the smaller the interval between control pulsescorresponding to the outer irradiation positions in the main scanningdirection D31 is.

In the following, a description is given of an example of the procedureof a drive control process of the light source 61 executed by thecontrol portion 80. The drive control process is executed in parallel tothe image forming process when, for example, a print job is receivedfrom an an external information processing apparatus such as a personalcomputer.

In step S11, the control portion 80 determines whether or not a scanningstart instruction to start a scanning by the laser scanning devices 6has been input. In the present embodiment, the control portion 80determines that a scanning start instruction has been input when a printjob has been input to the image forming apparatus 10 together with animage print instruction. When it is determined that a scanning startinstruction has been input, the process moves to step S12 in which thecontrol portion 80 drives the MEMS mirror 64.

In the subsequent step S13, the light source control portion 81 of thecontrol portion 80 generates drive pulse signals based on the density ofthe pixels on one scanning line. Specifically, the light source controlportion 81 obtains, from image data input together with the print job,gradation values (density information) of the pixels included in aplurality of pieces of pixel data constituting the image data, andgenerates drive pulse signals including drive pulses whose widthscorrespond to gradation values. The drive pulse signals include one lineof image information (density information) that corresponds to onescanning line. Specifically, the drive pulse signals each include adrive pulses that indicates the exposure time period and the lightintensity determined for each pixel area in one line. At this stage,each drive pulse is a single pulse that allows one exposure to beperformed for one pixel area, and functions to form a pixel of anelectrostatic latent image on the surface of the photoconductor drum 31by one exposure by the drive pulse. In the present embodiment, a singledrive pulse assigned to a single pixel is divided into a plurality ofdrive pulses (control pulses) so that a light beam is irradiated aplurality of times to a single pixel area.

Specifically, in the subsequent step S14, the light source controlportion 81 performs a correction process of correcting the drive pulsesignals generated in step S13. In the correction process, the drivepulse assigned to each pixel area is divided into a plurality of drivepulses so that the light beam is irradiated to each pixel area at aplurality of irradiation timings that have been determined incorrespondence with each pixel area. For example, in the case wherethree irradiation timings have been determined with respect to a pixelarea, the drive pulse is divided into three drive pulses. Hereinafter,the plurality of drive pulses generated by dividing one drive pulse arereferred to as control pulses. In the example 1 described below, in thecorrection process, the drive pulse is divided into three control pulsesA11 to A13 (see FIG. 5B) that are applied to a stationary beam 101.

The interval between the control pulses is determined such that itbecomes the interval between the irradiation timings at which the lightbeam is irradiated. In addition, the pulse width of the control pulsescorrespond to the exposure time period for which the light beam isirradiated. As a result, the pulse width of the control pulses isdetermined so that sufficient light intensities can be obtained at theirradiation positions in the pixel area. In addition, the amplitude ofthe control pulses may be adjusted so that sufficient light intensitiescan be obtained at the irradiation positions. The number of divisionsfrom a drive pulse, the interval between the control pulses, and theamplitude of the control pulses are determined for each pixel area byreferring to the information (also referred to as correctioninformation) such as the reference spot diameters and the property ofthe light beam (the light quantity distribution and the like) stored inthe storage portion 82 in correspondence with each of the pixel areas.For example, the number of divisions from a drive pulse and the intervalmay be detemined such that the spot diameter of the light fluxirradiated in the pixel area matches an average diameter of thereference spot diameters stored in the storage portion 82. Of course, inthe case where the modulation rate and the number of divisions thatallow the spot diameter to match the average diameter, have beenobtained for each pixel area by a simulation, the correction process ofdividing the drive pulse may be performed based on the modulation rateand the number of divisions (also referred to as “correctioninformation”).

In the subsequent step S15, the control portion 80 determines whether ornot a DB signal has been detected from the light detecting portion 69.When it is determined that a DB signal has been detected, the processmoves to step S16, in which the light source control portion 81 of thecontrol portion 80 outputs the drive pulse signals that have beencorrected in the correction process, to the LD driving circuit 61A. Uponreceiving the drive pulse signals, the LD driving circuit 61A drivinglycontrols the light source 61 in accordance with the drive pulse signals.This causes the light beam to be irradiated to a plurality ofirradiation positions (irradiation areas) in each pixel area on thesurface of the photoconductor drum 31, at a plurality of irradiationtimings determined for each pixel area. It is noted that when the nextline needs to be scanned, the processes after step S13 are repeated, andwhen the next line does not need to be scanned, the MEMS mirror 64 isstopped to be driven, and the series of processes ends.

With the above-described driving control process of the light source 61performed during the scanning by the laser scanning devices 6 of theimage forming apparatus 10, the light beam is irradiated to a pluralityof irradiation positions (irradiation areas) in each pixel area on thesurface of the photoconductor drum 31, at a plurality of irradiationtimings determined for each pixel area. As a result, it is possible tomake approximately equal the light quantity distributions in the pixelareas, and approximately align the size of the spot diameters of thelight fluxes in the pixel areas.

It is noted that, according to the present embodiment, as one example,each of generated drive pulse signals is corrected to a new drive pulsethat includes control pulses. However, not limited to this, for example,in step S13, the light source control portion 81 may generate drivepulse signals which each include control pulses.

EXAMPLES 1 TO 8

Next, a description is given of examples 1 to 8 of the first embodimentof the present disclosure. In the following, the examples 1 to 8 aredescribed with reference to FIG. 5A to FIG. 12B that show results ofsimulations performed with use of certain simulation programs.

Example 1

The example 1 (simulation 1) is described with reference to FIG. 5A toFIG. 6C. FIG. 5A shows a light quantity distribution obtained byperforming a simulation in which stationary beams 101 and 102 ofdifferent spot diameters were irradiated to the pixel area R10 for apredetermined time period (2.80×10⁻⁸ s), the pixel area R10corresponding to a pixel in an image having a resolution of 600 dpi.FIG. 5B shows control pulses A11 to A13 for the lighting control appiedto the stationary beam 101, and a control pulse A14 for the lightingcontrol appied to the stationary beam 102 in the simulation of theexample 1. In addition, FIG. 6A to FIG. 6C are diagrams showing thesimulation results, namely, dynamic beams 103, 104 and 105 obtained whenthree light beams were irradiated by driving the light source 61 by thecontrol pulses shown in FIG. 5B. Here, a stationary beam is a light beamemitted to a scanned surface without being scanned. In addition, adynamic beam is a light flux obtained on a scanned surface by scanningthe scanned surface with a light beam.

In the example 1, the stationary beam 101 is a light beam whose spotdiameter is set to 67.2 μm, and the stationary beam 102 is a light beamwhose spot diameter is set to 90.0 μm. Here, the spot diameter refers toa diameter of a light flux at a point where the light intensity is 1/e²(=13.5%) of the peak value of the light intensity. As will be understoodfrom FIG. 5A, the light quantity distribution changes as the spotdiameter changes. In the example 1, a simulation was performed withrespect to the stationary beam 101 and the stationary beam 102 that havedifferent spot diamiters and different light quantity distributions, byperforming a lighing control using the control pulses shown in FIG. 5Bso that the spot diameter of the stationary beam 101 was changed from67.2 μm to 90.0 μm that was the spot diameter of the stationary beam102, namely for alignment of the size of the spot diameters. Here, thesimulation conditions for FIG. 5B were: the light intensity (lightenergy) of each control pulse was 5.25 mW, the scanning speed was 1500m/s, the exposure time period of the control pulses A11 and A13 was6.67×10⁻¹⁰ s, the exposure time period of the control pulse Al2 was1.33×10⁻⁹ s, the exposure time period of the control pulse A14 was2.67×10⁻⁹ s, the scan length during the lighting of the control pulsesA11 and A13 was 1 μm, the scan length during the lighting of the controlpulse A12 was 2 μm, the scan length during the lighting of the controlpulse A14 was 4 μm, the light energy (exposure energy) of the controlpulses A11 to A13 was 0.393701 μJ/cm², and the light energy (exposureenergy) of the control pulse A14 was 0.787402 μJ/cm².

In the example 1, as shown in FIG. 5B, in the pixel area R10, withregard to the stationary beam 101 having a small spot diameter, threeirradiation positions, namely, the center and two ends in the mainscanning direction D31, were determined, and the control pulses A11 toA13 corresponding to the irradiation positions were used. That is, lightbeams of the control pulses A11 to A13 were irradiated to the pixel areaR10 at three irradiation timings. In addition, the irradiation timingsof the three control pulses A11 to A13 were determined to have equalintervals in the main scanning direction D31. That is, in the pixel areaR10, the irradiation timings and the irradiation positions of lightbeams of the control pulses A11 to A13 have equal intervals. Inaddition, with regard to the stationary beam 101, the irradiation timingof the control pulse A12 was determined to correspond to the centerposition in the main scanning direction D31, and the irradiation timingsof the other two control pulses A11 and A13 were determined so thatlight beams were irradiated to the irradiation positions that arelocated symmetrical with respect to the center position in the mainscanning direction D31. That is, the irradiation positions of lightbeams irradiated at a plurality of irradiation timings by the controlpulses A11 and A13 were located to be symmetrical with respect to thecenter position in the main scanning direction D31. Specifically, theirradiation positions of the control pulses A11 and A13 were determinedto be the outermost positions (boundaries with adjacent pixel areas) inthe pixel area R10 in the main scanning direction D31. In addition, withregard to the stationary beam 102 that has a large spot diameter, theirradiation timing of one control pulse (the control pulse A14) wasdetermined to correspond to the center position so that the lightintensity was concentrated at the center position in the main scanningdirection D31. That is, the irradiation position of the light beamirradiated by the control pulse A14 was the center position.

The control pulses A11 to A13 and the control pulse A14 had the samelight intensity, while the exposure time pediod of the control pulse A12was twice those of the control pulses A11 and A13 at the opposite ends.In addition, the exposure time period of the control pulse A14 was twicethat of the control pulse A12, and was quadruple those of the controlpulses A11 and A13. That is, the exposure time periods were set suchthat, in the pixel area R10, a light beam having a larger light energywas irradiated to the irradiation position (inner irradiation position)located inner than irradiation positions (outer irradiation positions)that are located outermost in the main scanning direction D31.Specifically, in the case of the control pulses A11 to A13, the innercontrol pulse A12 irradiates a light beam having a light energy twicethose of light beams irradiated by the outer control pulses A11 and A13.

FIG. 6A shows light quantity distributions of the dynamic beams 101A and102A obtained when the lighting control shown in FIG. 5B was performedon the stationary beam 101 and the stationary beam 102 that havedifferent profiles, and light beams were scanned to the pixel area R10.The dynamic beams 101A and 102A had an aligned size of spot diameter,90.0 μm, and the same light quantity distribution on both the stationarybeam 101 and the stationary beam 102. It is noted that in FIG. 6A, sincethe light quantity distributions match each other, the dynamic beams101A and 102A overlap each other. This also applies to FIG. 6B and FIG.6C.

FIG. 6B shows light quantity distributions of dynamic beams 101B and102B obtained when the lighting control shown in FIG. 5B was performedon pixel areas R10 and R11 that correspond to two successive pixels, andlight beams were scanned to the pixel areas R10 and R11. FIG. 6C showslight quantity distributions of dynamic beams 101C and 102C obtainedwhen the lighting control shown in FIG. 5B was performed on pixel areasR10 to R12 that correspond to one-by-one pixels, and light beams werescanned to the pixel areas R10 to R12. Here, the one-by-one pixelsindicate pixels in a lighting pattern in which the lighting (ON) andnon-lighting (OFF) are alternately repeated for each of the pixels. Asshown in FIG. 6B and FIG. 6C, the dynamic beams have the same lightquantity distribution with respect to each of the stationary beam 101and the stationary beam 102. As a result, the spot diameters at a pointwhere the light intensity is 1/e² of the peak value of the lightintensity in the light quantity distribution, are aligned to the samesize.

It is understood from the above that, by applying the lighting controlshown in FIG. 5B, it is possible to make approximately equal the lightquantity distributions of light beams and approximately align the sizeof the spot diameters of light beams even when the maximum differencebetween spot diameters is 22.8 (=90.0−67.2) μm in the main scanningdirection D31. In addition, as shown in FIG. 5B, although a lightintensity twice those of the stationary beams 101 and 102 is required,it is possible to make equal the light quantity distributions and alignthe size of the spot diameters only by an adjustment of light intensityapproximately twice as much. As a result, it is possible to correct thespot diameters with a less adjustment width than conventionaltechnologies, and in a range that is equal to or wider that that ofconventional technologies. In other words, it is possible to widen thecorrection range of the spot diameter, compared to conventionaltechnologies.

It is noted that in the example 1, it has been confirmed that it ispossible to make equal the light quantity distributions and align thesize of the spot diameters by setting the spot diamiters of thestationary beam 101 and the stationary beam 102 to 75.0 μm and 95.6 μm,respectively, and performing a simulation so that the spot diameter ofthe stationary beam 101 was changed from 75.0 μm to 95.6 μm that was thespot diameter of the stationary beam 102 to align the size of the spotdiameters.

Example 2

The example 2 (simulation 2) is described with reference to FIG. 7A and7B. FIG. 7A shows a light quantity distribution obtained by performing asimulation in which stationary beams 201 and 202 of different spotdiameters were irradiated to the pixel area R10 for a predetermined timeperiod (2.80×10⁻⁸ s). FIG. 7B shows control pulses A21 to A23 for thelighting control appied to the stationary beam 201, and a control pulseA24 for the lighting control appied to the stationary beam 202 in thesimulation of the example 2.

In the example 2, the stationary beam 201 is a light beam whose spotdiameter is set to 75.2 μm, and the stationary beam 202 is a light beamwhose spot diameter is set to 90.0 μm. In the example 2, a simulationwas performed by performing a lighing control using the control pulsesshown in FIG. 7B so that the spot diameter of the stationary beam 201was changed from 75.2 μm to 90.0 μm that was the spot diameter of thestationary beam 202, namely for alignment of the size of the spotdiameters. Here, the simulation conditions for FIG. 7B were: the lightintensity of each control pulse was 1.05 mW, the exposure time period ofthe control pulses A21 and A23 was 3.33×10⁻¹⁰ s, the exposure timeperiod of the control pulse A22 was 6.67×10⁻⁹ s, the exposure timeperiod of the control pulse A24 was 1.33×10⁻⁸ s, the scan length duringthe lighting of the control pulses A21 and A23 was 5 μm, the scan lengthduring the lighting of the control pulse A22 was 10 μm, the scan lengthduring the lighting of the control pulse A24 was 20 μm, the light energy(exposure energy) of the control pulses A21 to A23 was 0.393701 μJ/cm²,and the light energy (exposure energy) of the control pulse A24 was0.787402 μJ/cm². Otherwise, the example 2 had the same conditions as theexample 1.

In the example 2, as shown in FIG. 7B, in the pixel area R10, withregard to the stationary beam 201 having a small spot diameter, threeirradiation positions, namely, the center and two ends in the mainscanning direction D31, were determined, and the control pulses A21 toA23 corresponding to the irradiation positions were used. That is, lightbeams of the control pulses A21 to A23 were irradiated to the pixel areaR10 at three irradiation timings. In addition, the irradiation timingsof the three control pulses A21 to A23 were determined to have equalintervals in the main scanning direction D31. That is, in the pixel areaR10, the irradiation timings and the irradiation positions of lightbeams of the control pulses A21 to A23 have equal intervals. Inaddition, with regard to the stationary beam 201, the irradiation timingof the control pulse A22 was determined to correspond to the centerposition in the main scanning direction D31, and the irradiation timingsof the other two control pulses A21 and A23 were determined so thatlight beams were irradiated to the irradiation positions that arelocated symmetrical with respect to the center position in the mainscanning direction D31. That is, the irradiation positions of lightbeams irradiated at a plurality of irradiation timings by the controlpulses A21 and A23 were located to be symmetrical with respect to thecenter position in the main scanning direction D31. In addition, withregard to the stationary beam 202 that has a large spot diameter, theirradiation timing of one control pulse (the control pulse A24) wasdetermined to correspond to the center position so that the lightintensity was concentrated at the center position in the main scanningdirection D31. The example 2 was greatly different from the example 1 inthat the light intensity of each control pulse was set to beapproximately one-fourth of the example 1 and the exposure time periodand the scan length were set to be approximately five times those of theexample 1. In the other points including the arrangement and the numberof control pulses, the example 2 was the same as the example 1.

As was the case with the example 1, the simulation of the example 2could obtain the results that in the two dynamic beams obtained by thelighting control shown in FIG. 7B, it was possible to make equal thelight quantity distributions and align the size of the spot diameters(to 90.0 μm, for example). It is noted that the dynamic beams of theexample 2 had approximately the same waveform as those of the example 1,and thus showing the dynamic beams of the example 2 in the drawings isomitted.

It is understood from the above that, by applying the lighting controlshown in FIG. 7B, it is possible to make approximately equal the lightquantity distributions of light beams and approximately align the sizeof the spot diameters of light beams even when the maximum differencebetween spot diameters is 14.8 (=90.0−75.2) μm in the main scanningdirection D31.

Example 3

The example 3 (simulation 3) is described with reference to FIG. 8A and8B. FIG. 8A shows a light quantity distribution obtained by performing asimulation in which stationary beams 301 and 302 of different spotdiameters were irradiated to the pixel area R10 for a predetermined timeperiod (2.80×10⁻⁸ s). FIG. 8B shows control pulses A31 to A33 for thelighting control appied to the stationary beam 301, and a control pulseA34 for the lighting control appied to the stationary beam 302 in thesimulation of the example 3.

In the example 3, the stationary beam 301 is a light beam whose spotdiameter is set to 72.8 μm, and the stationary beam 302 is a light beamwhose spot diameter is set to 90.0 μm. In the example 3, a simulationwas performed by performing a lighing control using the control pulsesshown in FIG. 8B so that the spot diameter of the stationary beam 301was changed from 72.8 μm to 90.0 μm that was the spot diameter of thestationary beam 302, namely for alignment of the size of the spotdiameters. Here, the simulation conditions for FIG. 8B were: the lightintensity of each control pulse was 1.05 mW, the light intensity ofcontrol pulses A31 to A33 was 1.05 mW, the light intensity of thecontrol pulse A34 was 2.10 mW, the exposure time period of the controlpulses A31 and A33 was 3.33×10⁻¹⁰ s, the exposure time period of thecontrol pulses A32 and A34 was 6.67×10⁻⁹ s, the scan length during thelighting of the control pulses A31 and A33 was 5 μm, the scan lengthduring the lighting of the control pulses A32 and A34 was 10 μm, thelight energy (exposure energy) of the control pulses A31 to A34 was0.393701 μJ/cm². Otherwise, the example 3 had the same conditions as theexample 2.

In the example 3, as shown in FIG. 8B, in the pixel area R10, withregard to the stationary beam 301 having a small spot diameter, threeirradiation positions, namely, the center and two ends in the mainscanning direction D31, were determined, and the control pulses A31 toA33 (same as the control pulses A21 to A23) corresponding to theirradiation positions were used. In addition, with regard to thestationary beam 302 that has a large spot diameter, the irradiationtiming of one control pulse (the control pulse A34) was determined tocorrespond to the center position so that the light intensity wasconcentrated at the center position in the main scanning direction D31.The example 3 was greatly different from the example 2 in that the scanlength of the control pulse A34 was set to be approximately half of theexample 2 and the light intensity of the control pulse A34 was set to beapproximately twice the example 2. In the other points including thearrangement and the number of control pulses, the example 3 was the sameas the example 2.

As was the case with the example 1, the simulation of the example 3could obtain the results that in the two dynamic beams obtained by thelighting control shown in FIG. 8B, it was possible to make equal thelight quantity distributions and align the size of the spot diameters(to 90.0 μm, for example). It is noted that the dynamic beams of theexample 3 had approximately the same waveform as those of the example 1,and thus showing the dynamic beams of the example 3 in the drawings isomitted.

It is understood from the above that, by applying the lighting controlshown in FIG. 8B, it is possible to make approximately equal the lightquantity distributions of light beams and approximately align the sizeof the spot diameters of light beams even when the maximum differencebetween spot diameters is 17.2 (=90.0−72.8) μm in the main scanningdirection D31.

Example 4

The example 4 (simulation 4) is described with reference to FIG. 9A and9B. FIG. 9A shows a light quantity distribution obtained by performing asimulation in which stationary beams 401 to 404 of different spotdiameters were irradiated to the pixel area R10 for a predetermined timeperiod (2.80×10⁻⁸ s). FIG. 9B shows control pulses A41X, A41Y and A41Zfor the lighting control appied to the stationary beam 401, controlpulses A42X, A42Y and A42Z for the lighting control appied to thestationary beam 402, control pulses A43X, A43Y and A43Z for the lightingcontrol appied to the stationary beam 403, and control pulse A44 for thelighting control appied to the stationary beam 404. It is noted that, inFIG. 9B, the control pulses A41Z, A42Z and A43Z located at the centerhave the same pulse form, and thus overlap each other.

In the example 4, the stationary beam 401 is a light beam whose spotdiameter is set to 67.2 μm, the stationary beam 402 is a light beamwhose spot diameter is set to 74.8 μm, the stationary beam 403 is alight beam whose spot diameter is set to 82.4 μm, and the stationarybeam 404 is a light beam whose spot diameter is set to 90.0 μm. In theexample 4, a simulation was performed by performing a lighing controlusing the control pulses shown in FIG. 9B so that the spot diameters ofthe stationary beam 401 to 403 were changed to 90.0 μm that was the spotdiameter of the stationary beam 404, namely for alignment of the size ofthe spot diameters. Here, the simulation conditions for FIG. 9B were:the light intensity of each control pulse was 5.25 mW, the exposure timeperiod of the control pulses excluding the one at the center was6.67×10⁻¹⁰ s, the scan length of the control pulses excluding the one atthe center was 1 μm, the exposure time period of the control pulsesA41Z, A42Z and A43Z was 1.33×10⁻⁹ s, the scan length of the controlpulses A41Z, A42Z and A43Z was 2 μm, the exposure time period of thecontrol pulse A44 was 2.67×10⁻⁹ s, the scan length of the control pulseA44 was 4 μm, the light energy (exposure energy) of the control pulseA44 was 0.787402 μJ/cm², the light energy (exposure energy) of thecontrol pulses A41X to A41Z was 0.393701μJ/cm², the light energy(exposure energy) of the control pulses A42X to A42Z was 0.393701μJ/cm², and the light energy (exposure energy) of the control pulsesA43X to A43Z was 0.393701 μJ/cm². Otherwise, the example 4 had the sameconditions as the example 3.

In the example 4, as shown in FIG. 9B, in the pixel area R10, withregard to the stationary beam 401, three irradiation positions, namely,the center and two ends in the main scanning direction D31, weredetermined, and the control pulses A41X to A41Z corresponding to theirradiation positions were used. The outermost control pulses A41X andA41Y are located symmetrical with respect to the center position in themain scanning direction D31. Specifically, with regard to the controlpulses A41X and A41Y, the irradiation timings were determined so thatlight beams were irradiated to the outermost irradiation positions(boundaries with adjacent pixel areas) in the pixel area R10 in the mainscanning direction D31. Similarly, with regard to the stationary beam402, too, the control pulses A42X to A42Z corresponding to threeirradiation positions were used, and with regard to the control pulsesA42X and A42Y located on both sides of the center, the irradiationtimings were determined so that light beams were irradiated toirradiation positions that were each 17.3 μm away from the centerposition. With regard to the stationary beam 403, too, the controlpulses A43X to A43Z corresponding to three irradiation positions wereused, and with regard to the control pulses A43X and A43Y located onboth sides of the center, the irradiation timings were determined sothat light beams were irradiated to irradiation positions that were each12.7 μm away from the center position.

In addition, with regard to the stationary beam 404 that has the largestspot diameter, the irradiation timing of one control pulse (the controlpulse A44) was determined to correspond to the center position so thatthe light intensity was concentrated at the center position in the mainscanning direction D31. In the example 4, except for the control pulseA44, the smaller the spot diameters of the control pulses were, thefarther from the center position the irradiation positions weredetermined to be, and the larger the spot diameters of the controlpulses were, the closer to the center position the irradiation positionswere determined to be.

The simulation of the example 4 could also obtain the results that inthe four dynamic beams obtained by the lighting control shown in FIG.9B, it was possible to make equal the light quantity distributions ofthe four dynamic beams and align the size of the spot diameters (to 90.0μm). It is noted that the dynamic beams of the example 4 hadapproximately the same waveform as those of the example 1, and thusshowing the dynamic beams of the example 4 in the drawings is omitted.

It is understood from the above that, by applying the lighting controlshown in FIG. 9B, it is possible, with respect to four light beams ofdifferent spot diameters, to make approximately equal the light quantitydistributions of light beams and approximately align the size of thespot diameters of light beams. In addition, with this simulation, it wasconfirmed that it is possible to easily correct light beams regardlessof the size of the spot diameters, by using three control pulses anddetermining the irradiation positions of the control pulses such thatthe smaller the spot diameters of the control pulses are, the fartherfrom the center position the irradiation positions of the control pulsesare determined to be, as shown in FIG. 9B.

Examples 5 and 6

The example 5 (simulation 5) is described with reference to FIG. 10A toFIG. 10D. FIG. 10A to FIG. 10D are diagrams for explaining the example 5of the present embodiment. FIG. 10A shows control pulses A51 and A52 forthe lighting control appied to the stationary beam 101 of the example 1,and the control pulse A52 for the lighting control appied to thestationary beam 102 of the example 1. In the above-described examples 1to 4, three control pulses were applied to light beams whose spotdiameters were small. In the example 5, two control pulses A51 and A52were applied instead. It is noted that the simulation conditions of theexample 5 were approximately the same as those of the example 1. Withregard to the stationary beam 101, the irradiation positions of the twocontrol pulses A51 and A52 were located symmetrical with respect to thecenter position in the main scanning direction D31.

FIG. 10B to FIG. 10D show dynamic beams obtained when the lightingcontrol shown in FIG. 10A was performed on the stationary beams 101 and102 having different profiles. FIG. 10B shows light quantitydistributions of dynamic beams obtained when light beams were scanned tothe pixel area R10. FIG. 10C shows light quantity distributions ofdynamic beams obtained when light beams were scanned to successive pixelareas R10 and R11. FIG. 10D shows light quantity distributions ofdynamic beams obtained when light beams were scanned to pixel areas R10to R12 corresponding to one-by-one pixels. It is understood that in eachof the drawings, the light quantity distributions approximately matcheach other. However, the matchness is lower than the cases of theabove-described examples 1 to 4. It is understood from this that, withrespect to light beams having small spot diameters, application of threecontrol pulses can produce a higher level of match among the lightquantity distributions. In particular, when there is a large differenceamong spot diameters, it becomes difficult for the light quantitydistributions to match each other. As a result, in that case, it ispreferable to apply three or more control pulses distributedly to thepixel area R10.

FIG. 11A to FIG. 11D are diagrams for explaining the example 6 of thepresent embodiment, and show simulation results of the example 6(simulation 6) in which the control pulses A51 to A53 used in theexample 5 were applied to light beams whose difference between spotdiameters was relatively small (75.0 μm and 90.0 μm). Upon viewing FIG.11A to FIG. 11D, it is understood that even when the two control pulsesA51 and A52 were applied to a light beam that had a smaller spotdiameter, the light quantity distributions approximately matched eachother. That is, it is understood that when the difference between spotdiameters is less than 15 μm, even an application of two control pulsescan make approximately equal the light quantity distributions andapproximately align the size of the spot diameters. In addition, it hasbeen confirmed from the simulation results of the examples 5 and 6 thatwhen the difference between spot diameters exceeds 15 μm, it ispreferable to apply three or more control pulses so as to increase thelevel of matchness among the light quantity distributions and the spotdiameters.

Example 7

The example 7 (simulation 7) is described with reference to FIG. 12A.FIG. 12A shows a simulatin in which four control pulses A61 to A64 wereapplied to a light beam having a small spot diameter, and one controlpulse A65 was applied to a light beam having a large spot diameter. Ithas been confirmed from the simulation results of the example 7 that thelight quantity distributions and the spot diameters are approximatelyequal in the two dynamic beams obtained from the simulation in which theirradiation positions by the four control pulses A61 to A64 used in thelighting control are determined to be located on both sides of thecenter position in the main scanning direction D31, two irradiationpositions on each side, as shown in FIG. 12A.

Example 8

The example 8 (simulation 8) is described with reference to FIG. 12B.FIG. 12B shows a simulatin in which five control pulses A71 to A75 wereapplied to a light beam having a small spot diameter, and one controlpulse A76 was applied to a light beam having a large spot diameter. Ithas been confirmed from the simulation results of the example 8 that thelight quantity distributions and the spot diameters of light beams areapproximately equal in the two dynamic beams obtained from the lightingcontrol even when the five control pulses A71 to A75 used in thelighting control are applied to a light beam having a small spotdiameter, as shown in FIG. 12B.

[Second Embodiment]

In the following, a second embodiment of the present disclosure isdescribed with reference to FIG. 13A to FIG. 16B. The second embodimentdiffers from the above-described first embodiment in that the controlportion 80 and the light source control portion 81 perform a lightingcontrol that is different from that of the first embodiment. Otherwise,the first and second embodiments have common configurations.Accordingly, in the following description, only the differentconfigurations are described, configurations common to the firstembodiment are assigned the same reference signs, and descriptionthereof is omitted. It is noted that the examples 1 to 8 described aboveare applicable to the second embodiment as well.

In the present embodiment, the control portion 80 and the light sourcecontrol portion 81 control the light source 61 to irradiate, at aplurality of irradiation timings, light beams to three pixel areas R19to R21 arranged successively in the main scanning direction D31 among aplurality of pixel areas sectioned from each other on the surface of thephotoconductor drum 31 in the main scanning direction D31, the pluralityof irradiation timings being determined based on the positions of thepixel areas in the main scanning direction D31. It is noted thatalthrough the three, successive pixel areas R19 to R21 are described asan example in the present embodiment, the present disclosure isapplicable to successive pixel areas that are composed of at least twopixel areas.

Specifically, in step S14 of FIG. 4, the light source control portion 81performs a process of correcting the drive pulse signals generated instep S13, and dividing the drive pulse into a plurality of controlpulses. In the present embodiment, in the case where, as shown in FIG.13A, the pixel areas R19, R20 and R21 that are successive in the mainscanning direction D31 are provided on the surface of the photoconductordrum 31, three control pulses A81 to A83 are generated in correspondencewith three irradiation positions determined based on, for example, theposition of the pixel area R20 in the main scanning direction D31. Theirradiation positions of the control pulses A81 and A82 are boundariesT1 and T2 between the pixel area R20 and other pixel areas R19 and R21,respectively. The control pulse A81 corresponds to an irradiationposition that includes the boundary T1, and the control pulse A82corresponds to an irradiation position that includes the boundary T2. Inaddition, the irradiation position of the control pulse A83 is thecenter position of the pixel area R20.

The scan length of the control pulses A81 and A82 is 5 μm, and the scanlength of the control pulse A83 is 10 μm. The irradiation positions ofthe control pulses A81 and A82 are positions that are each 21.8 μm awayfrom the center position of the pixel area R20 in the main scanningdirection D31. In addition, the light intensity (light energy) of thecontrol pulses A81 to A83 is 1.05 mW.

When the light source control portion 81 causes light beams to beirradiated to the pixel areas R19, R20 and R21 by the control pulses A81to A83 shown in FIG. 13A, the control pulses overlap at each of theboundaries T1 and T2 as shown in FIG. 13B. That is, the control pulsesA81 and A82 whose irradiation positions (irradiation areas) of lightbeams include the boundaries T1 and T2, overlap each other. In thiscase, the light source control portion 81 performs, in the correctionprocess of the step S14, a synthesizing process to synthesize thecontrol pulses that are overlapping each other (the control pulse A82 ofthe pixel area R19 overlapping the control pulse A81 of the pixel areaR20, and the control pulse A82 of the pixel area R20 overlapping thecontrol pulse A81 of the pixel area R21). Hereinafter, a control pulsegenerated in the synthesizing process is referred to as a syntheticpulse. As shown in FIG. 14A, in the synthesizing process, syntheticpulses A84 and A85 are generated at the boundaries T1 and T2,respectively.

Since the light intensities of the overlapping portions have been addedin the synthetic pulses A84 and A85, the peak value of the lightintensity of the synthetic pulses A84 and A85 has been doubled to 2.10mW. The amount of light energy of the synthetic pulses A84 and A85matches the total value of the amounts of light energy of the twocontrol pulses that were synthesized into the synthetic pulses A84 andA85. That is, the light source control portion 81 generates thesynthetic pulses A84 and A85 that hold the amount of light energy oflight beams corresponding to the control pulses A81 and A82 that weresynthesized into the synthetic pulses A84 and A85.

Subsequently, upon detecting the DB signal from the light detectingportion 69, the control portion 80 outputs, to the LD driving circuit61A, a drive pulse signal including the synthetic pulses generated inthe correction process performed by the light source control portion 81.This allows the lighting control to be performed to the pixel areas R19to R21 by the drive pulse signal including the plurality of controlpulses shown in FIG. 14A. That is, a plurality of light beams by theplurality of control pulses shown in FIG. 14A are irradiated to thepixel areas R19 to R21 that are successive in the main scanningdirection D31, at a plurality of timings.

As described above, in the second embodiment, the lighting control usingcontrol pulses that include the boundaries T1 and T2, is performed. As aresult, when the lighting control is performed, for example, on thepixel area R20, a part of the light beam is irradiated to the adjacentpixel areas R19 and R21.

In addition, in the correction process, a process of synthesizingcontrol pulses is performed. This makes it possible to reduce the numberof ONs and OFFs in the lighting control of the light source 61.

In addition, as described above, in the second embodiment, the peakvalue of the light intensity of the synthetic pulses A84 and A85 hasbeen doubled. As a result, as shown in FIG. 14B, in the correctionprocess, synthetic pulses A86 and A87 may be generated, wherein the peakvalue of the light intensity of the synthetic pulses A86 and A87 is thesame as before, 1.05 mW, but the scan length has been made longer thanbefore. This makes it possible to restrict the peak value of the lightintensity from increasing.

It is noted that as another example of the second embodiment, as shownin FIG. 15A, in the correction process, control pulses A91 to A93 may begenerated in correspondence with three irradiation positions determinedbased on, for example, the position of the pixel area R20 in the mainscanning direction D31. Here, the control pulse A91 corresponds to anirradiation position determined in the adjacent pixel area R19 beyondthe boundary T1. The control pulse A92 corresponds to an irradiationposition determined in the adjacent pixel area R21 beyond the boundaryT2. In addition, the irradiation position of the control pulse A93 isthe center position of the pixel area R20.

The scan length of the control pulses A91 and A92 is 5 μm, and the scanlength of the control pulse A93 is 10 μm. The irradiation positions ofthe control pulses A91 and A92 are positions that are each 25.4 μm awayfrom the center position of the pixel area R20 in the main scanningdirection D31. In addition, the light intensity (light energy) of thecontrol pulses A91 to A93 is 1.05 mW.

When the light source control portion 81 causes light beams to beirradiated to the pixel areas R19, R20 and R21 by the control pulses A91to A93 shown in FIG. 15A, the control pulses do not overlap each other,as shown in FIG. 15B. That is, the control pulses A91 to A93 aredetermined such that light beams do not overlap each other in theadjacent pixel areas when the light beams are irradiated to the pixelareas R19, R20 and R21.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 16A, when light beams are irradiatedto the pixel areas R19, R20 and R21, the control pulses are in proximityto each other at the boundaries T1 and T2. That is, the control pulseA92 of the pixel area R19 is in proximity to the control pulse A91 ofthe pixel area R20 at the boundary T1, and the control pulse A92 of thepixel area R20 is in proximity to the control pulse A91 of the pixelarea R21 at the boundary T2. In this case, the light source controlportion 81 performs, in the correction process of the step S14, asynthesizing process to synthesize the control pulses that are inproximity to each other. As shown in FIG. 16B, in the synthesizingprocess, synthetic pulses A94 and A95 are generated at the boundaries T1and T2, respectively. In the present synthesizing process, each of thesynthetic pulses A94 and A95 is generated such that its center in themain scanning direction D31 is at an average center position (boundaryT1, T2) of the irradiation positions of the light beams corresponding tothe control pulses that are synthesized.

As described above, in the correction process, control pulses that arein proximity to each other at the boundaries T1 and T2 are synthesized.This makes it possible to reduce the number of ONs and OFFs in thelighting control of the light source 61.

It is to be understood that the embodiments herein are illustrative andnot restrictive, since the scope of the disclosure is defined by theappended claims rather than by the description preceding them, and allchanges that fall within metes and bounds of the claims, or equivalenceof such metes and bounds thereof are therefore intended to be embracedby the claims.

The invention claimed is:
 1. A laser scanning device comprising: a lightsource configured to emit a light beam; a deflection portion configuredto cause the light beam emitted from the light source to scan a scannedsurface by deflecting the light beam at a predetermined deflectionangle; an image forming lens configured to condense the light beamdeflected by the deflection portion on the scanned surface, and causethe light beam to be scanned on the scanned surface in a scanningdirection at an equal speed; and a light source control portionconfigured to control the light source to irradiate, at a plurality ofirradiation timings, the light beam to at least one section area among aplurality of section areas on the scanned surface, the plurality ofsection areas being sectioned from each other in the scanning direction,the plurality of irradiation timings being determined based on aposition of the at least one section area in the scanning direction,wherein the plurality of irradiation timings are determined such thatthe plurality of section areas on the scanned surface have approximatelyan equal light quantity distribution of light flux.
 2. The laserscanning device according to claim 1, wherein the light source controlportion controls the light source to irradiate the light beam to all ofthe plurality of section areas at a plurality of irradiation timingsthat are determined based on positions of the section areas in thescanning direction.
 3. The laser scanning device according to claim 1,wherein the light source control portion controls the light source suchthat a light beam of an exposure time period and a light intensity thatcorrespond to the position of the at least one section area in thescanning direction, is irradiated to the at least one section area atthe irradiation timings.
 4. An image forming apparatus comprising: thelaser scanning device according to claim 1; and an image forming portionconfigured to form, on a transferred sheet, an image based on anelectrostatic latent image on a scanned surface scanned by the laserscanning device.
 5. The image forming apparatus according to claim 4,wherein the at least one section area is a pixel area corresponding to apixel which is the smallest unit of the image formed by the imageforming portion.
 6. A laser scanning device comprising: a light sourceconfigured to emit a light beam; a deflection portion configured tocause the light beam emitted from the light source to scan a scannedsurface by deflecting the light beam at a predetermined deflectionangle; an image forming lens configured to condense the light beamdeflected by the deflection portion on the scanned surface, and causethe light beam to be scanned on the scanned surface in a scanningdirection at an equal speed; and a light source control portionconfigured to control the light source to irradiate, at a plurality ofirradiation timings, the light beam to at least one section area among aplurality of section areas on the scanned surface, the plurality ofsection areas being sectioned from each other in the scanning direction,the plurality of irradiation timings being determined based on aposition of the at least one section area in the scanning direction,wherein the deflection portion is an oscillation mirror thatsinusoidally oscillates at the predetermined deflection angle andreflects the light beam toward the scanned surface, and the imageforming lens has an arc sine property that causes the light beam to moveon the scanned surface in the scanning direction at an equal speed.
 7. Alaser scanning device comprising: a light source configured to emit alight beam; a deflection portion configured to cause the light beamemitted from the light source to scan a scanned surface by deflectingthe light beam at a predetermined deflection angle; an image forminglens configured to condense the light beam deflected by the deflectionportion on the scanned surface, and cause the light beam to be scannedon the scanned surface in a scanning direction at an equal speed; alight source control portion configured to control the light source toirradiate, at a plurality of irradiation timings, the light beam to atleast one section area among a plurality of section areas on the scannedsurface, the plurality of section areas being sectioned from each otherin the scanning direction, the plurality of irradiation timings beingdetermined based on a position of the at least one section area in thescanning direction; and a storage portion storing beam data thatincludes reference spot diameters of the respective plurality of sectionareas, the reference spot diameters being spot diameters of a referencelight beam that appear in the section areas respectively when thereference light beam having a predetermined light energy is irradiatedto each of the section areas, wherein the light source control portioncontrols the light source to irradiate the light beam to the at leastone section area at the plurality of irradiation timings that aredetermined based on the position of the at least one section area in thescanning direction and a reference spot diameter in the beam datacorresponding to the at least one section area.
 8. The laser scanningdevice according to claim 7, wherein the light source control portionadjusts intervals between the plurality of irradiation timings so thatthere exists a negative correlation between the intervals and sizes ofthe reference spot diameters included in the beam data.
 9. A laserscanning device comprising: a light source configured to emit a lightbeam; a deflection portion configured to cause the light beam emittedfrom the light source to scan a scanned surface by deflecting the lightbeam at a predetermined deflection angle; an image forming lensconfigured to condense the light beam deflected by the deflectionportion on the scanned surface, and cause the light beam to be scannedon the scanned surface in a scanning direction at an equal speed; and alight source control portion configured to control the light source toirradiate, at a plurality of irradiation timings, the light beam to atleast one section area among a plurality of section areas on the scannedsurface, the plurality of section areas being sectioned from each otherin the scanning direction, the plurality of irradiation timings beingdetermined based on a position of the at least one section area in thescanning direction, wherein irradiation positions of the light beamirradiated at the plurality of irradiation timings are locatedsymmetrical with respect to a center position of the at least onesection area.
 10. A laser scanning device comprising: a light sourceconfigured to emit a light beam; a deflection portion configured tocause the light beam emitted from the light source to scan a scannedsurface by deflecting the light beam at a predetermined deflectionangle; an image forming lens configured to condense the light beamdeflected by the deflection portion on the scanned surface, and causethe light beam to be scanned on the scanned surface in a scanningdirection at an equal speed; and a light source control portionconfigured to control the light source to irradiate, at a plurality ofirradiation timings, the light beam to at least one section area among aplurality of section areas on the scanned surface, the plurality ofsection areas being sectioned from each other in the scanning direction,the plurality of irradiation timings being determined based on aposition of the at least one section area in the scanning direction,wherein the plurality of irradiation timings for the at least onesection area are at least three times.
 11. The laser scanning deviceaccording to claim 10, wherein the plurality of irradiation timings forthe at least one section area have equal intervals therebetween.
 12. Thelaser scanning device according to claim 10, wherein the light sourcecontrol portion controls the light source such that, in the at least onesection area, a light beam having a larger light energy is irradiated toan inner irradiation position located inward of an outer irradiationposition that is located outermost in the scanning direction.
 13. Thelaser scanning device according to claim 12, wherein the light sourcecontrol portion controls the light source such that a light beam havinga light energy twice that of a light beam irradiated to the outerirradiation position, is irradiated to the inner irradiation position.